12 Ghosts
by Rifles
Summary: A year before the Cylons attack a Pro Pyramid Player meets a woman he will never know. Anders/Number Six


12 Ghosts

**12 Ghosts**

So here goes. Getting it all down for prosperity

I am in this wooden shed high up on Mt. Aryandes sitting on the porch of some probable dead guy's hideaway. Some night maybe three months from now I am gonna look back at this moment and I am going to try imaging the way this all looked, the end of it all. I won't remember, if I live long enough I might not even care, something about a missing tomorrow. Sue-Shaun walks over she looks worn out by our narrow escape.

"God's……..Anders…….this is so frakked up…….frak……….I…..Should we climb higher…I mean…..should we think about it? Is this cabin safe enough………frak me….."

"Sue-Shaun…..have you looked around….I mean I don't even think Zeus himself could get this frakking high. As for safe well…..there is no such thing….."

"I know…but…"

"Look we all had a rough day…..so unroll your rack…..try to close your eyes or something…..how are we on water anyways?"

"….We're good…..we're not great but…..we'll get by for the next three days if we manage everything…"

"That's good….real good…..look three days is better than what's going on down there….….."

"No….its ok….you're right….I am gonna go lie down…"

"I get the first watch…….then Barolay…..then you…..ok…'

"Yeah….ok…."

She turns walks back inside the cabin. When we took this hike it was for team building to start of the season right. Now it's saved our lives. Right now the sky is filled with varying colors of grey, black and red smoke, everything is on fire. Right now I wonder is there anyone left? Right now I feel like I knew this would happen. Right now I wonder what she is doing? Is she alive, did she get to take her trip back to Tauron? Did she escape?

I write it down so no on can read.

**Part One:**

**The Day of the Apostle. One year before the Cylons attack.**

Arelon Rebels Vs Caprica Buccaneers.

Tip off when I see her in the crowd again….she has been a regular. 5th row dead center behind the official scorer's chair. I don't know why she catches my eye. I should have been paying attention to the game. Coach Castor smacked me in the head telling me to get myself in the game. And yet there she was…perfect looking and we where losing big time. Our home crowd was on the verge of a riot, calls were getting overturned and we were being made fools of. Getting beat by the Rebels on the last game of yet another losing year was simply too much for everyone. Yet and still our eyes met in the thick of the crowd, getting bashed around, elbowed in the jaw, blood on my teeth, sweat blinding my eyes with salty wonder and still our eyes met. She was different, I knew it. I felt it in my bones. And back to the game that we wanted to win so badly we could taste it like so much blood. I held the ball too long and the game seemed to go with it. No one was going to blame me, but I knew it was my fault. As the game wound down and the seconds ticked off I knew it was going to be a long off season. I knew as soon the dust settled I was probably going to be traded. We cleaned out our lockers, did the question answer thing for the reporters had a few drinks and vowed to not let it happen again. I was in the parking lot when I saw her again.

The distracting blonde.

Tall leggy dressed to kill. A statue of Aphrodite come to life. Perfect lips, perfect legs, perfect everything, hips to grab onto, breasts cleaving, just enough to get my mind out, to not think about tomorrow. She was leaning against a car parked near mine. She had the most perfect wicked smile. I walked closer, siren calling. She nodded her head in an invitation. I was thinking about what to say.

"You know the problem with your team is fatigue." She says all matter of fact.

"Every one has a theory."

"I would suggest high altitude training. It would benefit you all greatly. The air is thinner so you breathe harder, blood flows faster, and if you all time it right, everything will ironically slow down, thus allowing you more reaction time, the end result will be a more productive team. You were all so close, a second here, a millisecond there, I love watching you play. The way you create something from nothing, the way you rise up and meet the challenge, the way you are with your teammates. It's a wonder to behold."

An hour later our clothes were in a heap in my apartment. She had this violent way of kissing, her teeth, her nails; we knocked over tables, chairs, barely making it to my bed. It was like swimming in liquid fire being inside her. We screamed out shattered by each other's will, the neighbors beat on the walls and told us to shut the hell up, it went on like that all night, I didn't know I had it in me. She had this thing about control so I let her have it all. She had this way of closing my eyes, making everything spin and burn. It was like I was in a rage, I was feeling something new. I didn't know what it was.

I was sore from the last match and black blue when she left. I hadn't even asked her name. She didn't give me a chance.

**Three Weeks before the Cylons attack.**

"_120 minutes to deicide the playoff. With 120 seconds left in the match a determined and invigorated Samuel T. Anders takes a hard foul and still has the presence of mind to get the ball to this left side to Rusty Villalobos to end the tie, a furious round of defense followed and the C-Bucks were able to pull of the thrilling comeback and end a twenty year franchise draught of falling in the Qualifying round…..President Adar a Caprican by birth yet an avid Rebels fan still found the time to congratulate the hated C-Bucks Captain……"_

She mumbles and switches the Telescreen off. God's was it morning already? She was dressed and ready to go. Her silver brief case my newest and hated rival. She loved that thing too much. I wanted her love me. Instead she loved him. The geeky scientist I saw her with at the charity event for those messed up Trojans and their mining thing. I watch her snap the briefcase closed and wonder why she still won't tell me her name? It's been like this since we met close to a year ago. She floats in and out of my life like non existence.

"Going so soon?" she indulges me with a kiss. Her lips soft and wet that slight feel of her tongue. So strong…

"Now, you know I have meetings all day…..I'll see you around?"

Around meant at the bar that we meet at yet we never have plans. Some nights I walk into Jake's and I feel like killing myself cause she isn't there.

"What do you see in that guy anyway?" I say like a kid.

'You mean Gaius?"

"Gaius….is that his name….what's he some kind of royalty…..You gotta be kidding me…Gaius…."

I laughed so hard. She was so serious. I pulled her close again knowing she liked the feel of me. She was hotter than any woman I have ever known. Her skin felt 10 degrees hotter than any other woman I have ever felt. Swimming in lava….that is what she was like and I was addicted to getting torched. Truth was I didn't want her go. I liked her being around. She had a way about her. Didn't talk much, didn't ask for much. Rough house during those quiet moments. I had never known a woman like her. She sealed my unease with a kiss on my shoulder. She was leaving again. It was getting hard to watch her go.

"I'm sorry about the Gaius thing."

"Don't be. It's amusing to see your reactions to him."

"Now I am funny to you. You got a strange way of talking."

"Samuel you are a champion of men and women alike. Everyone adores you. You have a wonderful way about yourself…..I wish I would have met you first…."

"You love him don't you?"

"Gaius Baltar?"

"Yeah Mr. Science, Mr. lets move technology into the future. I know who he is….I'm not brain dead."

"Of course not Sam…yes. I do love him….yes love. I do…"

"Fair enough…….so this….is what?"

"This is between you and I. I love Pyramid…..Gaius….does not. He loves the opera…..the arts…..other women."

She loves Pyramid.

I am a game to her. A distraction when Mr. Science fraks around on her. Was it enough? To not even know her name, where she lives and breathes, what her favorite things are, what she likes to eat. Was it enough to have her like this, as a game?

"I would….understand….you know…if he wasn't such a tool…." It hangs in the air of my smallish apartment.

"I don't get your meaning." She says confused, distracted. Something was on her mind. More than usual. Of course she won't tell me anything and out of fear of her leaving I don't ask.

"………So I won't see you again?"

"…..We have three weeks."

"What happens in three weeks?"

"In three weeks Gaius and my life will change in a very real way."

"You're getting married?"

"Marriage yes…..we will…"

"So give me that time. I'll take you anywhere you want to go. We can lie on a beach and not talk, not that you like talking anyways…..come one you'll give him your life, that's fine…..but give me the three weeks…."

"I can't I have to work."

She turned away. Her perfume leaving as she gets up. Her back is all sharp lines and muscle, her slinky red dress wrinkled, silver briefcase as she was about to leave out the door. I get up and run after her. She was almost gone when I caught her. I kissed her back, ran my tongue along her neck, the blood rushing straight through me, and her moans following. She meets my mouth with hers and we kiss and kiss, her hands run all over following those pathways she liked the most, shoulders, back, front, lower and lower till I whimper. Its close again, the heat was rising in waves we where getting closer again. She pushes me away with a strength I didn't know she had.

"Tell me your name…please….."

"….Natasi….."

And she was gone. Leaving me angry and alone. Hard, I wanted to break thru a wall.

**Caprica, One year before the Cylons attack.**

She was gone when I woke. No number to call. No name to reference. A dream maybe? No I could still smell her all over me. I walk to the bathroom shower, shave, notice the bruises. Check for chipped teeth. Sing some old song, feeling lighter than ever, wishing I knew her name. It's unreal.

I head back to the arena to meet with our team owner. Mr. Bosphorus was a hard man to please on most days and as the Captain of the Caprica Buccaneers I had the responsibly of answering to him. I didn't run from it but I didn't jump up and down about it either.

"Come on in Sam…..sit….drink?"

"No sir."

"Listen son, I know it was a tough season so I won't take up your time. There has been a far amount of talk over the wireless about this team's continued spiral into the abyss. Getting beat handedly by those God's damn corn picker's makes me ill. So lets talk about making a commitment…I have three offers from outer lining Colonies looking for a set up man with your skills."

"Sir with all due respect I signed here because I want to be a C-Buck. I am committed to this team and this franchise. I want to win a championship. It's my goal to bring the Cup home, I grew up in Caprica, and this is my dream to play for this team."

"And son that is what I want to hear. So….here's what we are going to do, we are going to revamp this team and get you some scoring. We are going to draft better but most of all we are not going to be the laughing stock of the PPL. I don't care about the cost."

"Yes sir."

"Now with that said, if I don't see a marked improvement next season, changes will be made and you will be shipped out to the highest bidder. Being a leader is not about wanting to be in a specific place or time. It's knowing when to say the right thing and more than that it's knowing when to be the one."

"Ye sir."

"Now get the frak out of my site and lose ten pounds you need to be quicker on your feet."

"Yes sir."

To be continued.


End file.
